Smaller combines, such as that exemplified by the combine sold under the name Massey Ferguson 8, and produced by Massey-Ferguson Manufacturing Limited, include a feeder housing having a harvester head permanently attached thereto. This type of combine is considered to be relatively small, having an overall length of approximately 220 inches and an overall width of approximately 80 inches.
As a result of the permanent connection between the harvester head and the feeder housing of smaller combines such as the Massey Ferguson 8, it is necessary to completely remove the feeder housing-head structure from the combine when it becomes necessary to replace or exchange heads. For example, it is not uncommon for a farmer to use a small combine to harvest several different crops including corn, soybean and grain, each of which requires a different head. Exchanging heads on a small combine in which the head is intended to be permanently mounted to the feeder housing is a time consuming, burdensome procedure which requires extensive mechanical disassembly of the combine to remove the feeder housing. Once the housing/head structure is removed, either a new housing/head structure having the desired head must be re-mounted to the combine or, in the alternative, the head must be removed from the feeder housing, the replacement head must be mounted to the feeder housing, and the feeder housing/head structure must be re-mounted to the combine. In either event, the procedure for exchanging or replacing a head is complicated and requires many mechanical and hydraulic connections and disconnections; is time consuming and requires the labor of at least two people working several hours to remove and replace the feeder housing/head structure from the combine; and is potentially dangerous because it requires personnel to be positioned between the combine and the feeder housing during dismounting and re-mounting thereof.
Although larger scale commercial combines, as for example the 9400 Combine manufactured by the John Deere Company, may be equipped from the factory with means for replacing harvester heads, smaller scale combines do not include this feature. Therefore small farms having only the smaller type combines discussed above must resort to the complicated and dangerous time consuming procedure when one harvester head is exchanged for another.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an improved combine of the type generally discussed above (including a harvester head intended to be permanently mounted to a feeder housing), in which the combine includes means for rapidly, simply, efficiently and safely exchanging one head for another without removing the feeder housing from the combine.
It is a further object of the invention to provide improved and modified feeder housings and harvester heads which are employed in the improved combine for facilitating the exchange of one harvester head for another.
It is still further object of the invention to provide a method of modifying an existing combine in which the feeder housing and harvester head are intended to be non-removably coupled together, to provide structural means for rapidly, efficiently, and safely exchanging one head for another without removing the feeder housing from the combine and which eliminates the complicated mechanical manipulations otherwise required for exchange or replacement of heads.
Further objects of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following discussion in conjunction with the drawings.